After a fairly restless night, considering how tired I was from the flight and the long day, we woke up early-ish (about 9) and made our way down to Starbucks for some breakfast. The hot chocolate and toasted bagel w/cream cheese I had for breakfast was not only cheaper, but also infinitely more satisfying than the crap that we had eaten yesterday for breakfast at Maccas. Filled up, ready for the day, we caught bus number 20 towards Pearl Harbour, finding out that most of the other people on the bus were also headed for the USS Arizona Memorial (and most of them ended up somehow depending on me to get off at the right stop – how?!).
Once we arrived at the memorial, we headed right for the counter to grab a ticket and were allocated ticket number 29. We had about half an hour before we were to begin our tour so hung around the museum and the surrounding areas. The tour began with a short film with some history and background on how World War 2 began and the Japanese strategy for bombing the US Pacific Naval base as well as and explanation about why the US had all their battleships at Pearl Harbour (apparently they were basing all their ships there to begin their campaign against the Japanese in SE Asia and also the Pacific Ocean). The US had thought that they were ready for any campaign that the Japanese may plan again them, however when the Japanese fighters appeared on radar, they thought that it was a group of US Air Force planes that were expected to be arriving from California and so by the time they realised that it was the Japanese Empire, it was too late. As such, all the US’s Navy Battleships were damaged and a number destroyed (including the USS Arizona which sustained the most damage, being hit where the ammunitions storage facility on board was located).
Sombre from the video, we filed out to the Navy boat, which was to take us out to the harbour and onto the USS Arizona Memorial. Once on board, we saw remnants of the battleship as well as the wall that commemorates all the soldiers, navy personnel and marines lost on that day. A silence fell upon us and spread throughout the memorial (it is after all, atop a cemetery with many of the bodies in the ship still contained within). Once our time was up, we filed back onto the boat and back to the shore where our tour concluded.
Our next stop was then back to the Ala Moana shopping centre for a spot of lunch and the transfer point to interchange with the bus heading towards Diamond Head Monument. Slowly but surely, we made our way up the side of the hill and the stairs to the top of the mountain where the structure of the old Honolulu fire control station remains and is the site for magnificent views out towards the North Shore and Honolulu City/Waikiki beach area. It was a fairly strenuous walk up there, made more difficult for Shauntelle by her choice of footwear (Havaianas, due to the tattoo on her foot).
By the time we got back to the hotel here in Waikiki, it was time for us to have dinner. For dessert we were spoilt by the scrumptious delights of The Cheesecake Factory. I chose the fresh strawberries while Shauntelle went for the caramel. Stuffed to the brim, we settled down with some trashy American reality TV.
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